/* Memories
= YEAR ONE =
Aliyeh hated going to the bathroom at Hogwarts. Ever since that troll had destroyed the one closest to the great hall, she has had to climb too many stairs for her liking. Her breathing was a little strained when she finally got over the last few steps. Dragging her feet behind her, she huffed in frustration.
"What's the point of magic if they don't put escalators!?" She shook her head, finally walking into the girl's lavatory. However, she was quick to discover that the lavatory had someone else in it. The sound of quiet sobs cut off Aliyeh's grumbling, and she furrowed her eyebrows as her gaze caught onto the girl sitting with her back to the wall and her legs pulled to her chest. She hadn't noticed that Aliyeh had walked in. The brunette frowned at the sight, glancing between the stalls and the jet black haired girl. With a sigh, she walked closer to the girl.
"Hey..." She called out softly. The crying girl gasped and snapped her head up, immediately standing up and pointing her wand at her. Aliyeh jumped back, raising her hands to show she meant no harm. Her eyes fell onto the green emblem on her robes.
"What do you want, mudblood?" She sneered.
"I wanted to ask what's wrong." Aliyeh frowned at the word she had used. "Could you please lower your wand before I pee myself?"
The girl's lips quirked slightly and her eyes softened. "You weren't going to mock me?"
"Of course not!" She said. "I didn't even know you were here- Actually, I don't even know your name!"
"I'm Pansy. Pansy Parkinson." She sniffled, finally lowering her wand and wrapping her arms around herself.
"It's nice to meet you, Pansy." The Hufflepuff smiled. "I'm Aliyeh Starling!"
"Aliya?"
"No, Aliyeh."
"Aleeya?"
"You know what, yeah, just call me Lia."
Noticing that Lia was practically jumping from one foot to the other and swaying side to side, Pansy snorted, a giggle escaping her lips. "Go use the loo!"
"Oh thank you-" Lia let out a breath of relief. "Don't go anywhere! I still want to make sure you're alright!"
"I'll stay." Pansy smiled softly at the girl before laughing at the way she ran into one of the stalls.
Once Lia came out of her stall and washed her hands, she turned to look at Pansy who was playing with the hem of her uniform.
"Do you want to talk about what's wrong?" Lia asked as she walked closer to Pansy. She nodded and looked down.
"My dormmates are mean." She sniffled. "I fight back, of course...but it still gets too much sometimes. I hate them."
"Aw, I'm sorry." Lia frowned, hesitantly reaching her hand out to hold hers. Pansy pulled away at first, but when she looked into her eyes she relaxed and accepted her hand. "No one deserves to go through that."
"But I do..." Pansy's eyes pooled with tears again. "I'm horrible!"
"I don't know you well, but I know you're not horrible."
"I called you a mudblood and was about to hex you!"
"But you also feel guilty about it." Lia smiled. "Horrible people don't regret their actions."
"I'm..." Pansy shut her eyes. "I'm sorry to call you that..."
"It's okay, it's only a word, after all." Lia chuckled. "It's us who give meaning to it, and I choose to leave it as gibberish!"
Lia's smile widened when Pansy let out a giggle.
"My brother was right." She smiled. "We Slytherins really do need a Hufflepuff in our lives."
"Well then, consider me your emotional support Hufflepuff!" Lia exclaimed. "And friend, if you'll have me?"
"I'd rather no one else." Pansy smiled.
= YEAR TWO =
"Those mudbloods deserve what's happening to them." Draco laughed as he made himself a plate and sat back down. "Finally, some peace at Hogwarts."
"Haha, yeah..." Pansy laughed, trying her best to seem genuine. Her eyes kept glancing over at the Hufflepuff table, nervously waiting for her best friend to show up. She was never late for breakfast before.
Pansy couldn't pay attention to the people she sat with until one of them said something that made her heart drop into a hollow pit in her stomach.
"I heard a Hufflepuff got petrified too, the one with a weird name." Goyle laughed.
"Hufflepuff and a mudblood?" Draco laughed. "My father will love that."
"I...I need to go." Pansy muttered before she quickly left the Slytherin table. Ignoring the calls of her so called friends, she ran out of the hall, her feet leading her to the infirmary.
Once she got there, she burst through the doors. Her heart dropped at the sight of the petrified students laying in bed, though none hurt as much as her friend who was still wearing her robes from the previous day. Pansy's eyes filled with tears as she ran towards her.
Next to Lia was a boy clad in green. Pansy's eyes widened as she and the boy both stared at each other in shock and fear.
"This isn't what it looks like-" The two of them said at the same time.
"What are you doing here, Blaise?" Pansy asked. "I didn't see you at breakfast ."
"Yeah I was..." He scratched the back of his head before he sighed. "Look, say what you want. Lia is my friend, and I was worried for her."
Pansy dropped her guard and sat down on the other side of Lia, holding onto her frozen hand. "She's my friend too."
"She doesn't deserve this." Blaise shook his head. "I tried to protect her...I failed."
"The boys were so happy when they heard about her." Pansy scoffed. "Gits, they are."
"I knew I'd strangle Malfoy if I came to breakfast today." Blaise huffed. "I hate the life we're forced into."
"I'm just glad she understands." Pansy moved some hairs out of Lia's face. "I don't know how I'd survive without her."
"Me either." He said, both of them looking at the girl who froze with fear in her eyes.
= YEAR THREE =
Potions class was a literal hell for Draco Malfoy. He couldn't believe Slytherin and Hufflepuff had to share the class. Thankfully, he had Snape to take care of the yellow clad idiots. What he hated even more, however, was that his best mate had dragged a Hufflepuff to sit with them.
"Oh, Draco, you're cutting your wings all wrong-" she peeked over at his work but was cut off by an icy glare.
"Keep your filthy mudblood nose out of it!" He sneered.
Lia blinked twice, looked at Blaise who glared at the blonde boy, then turned back to Draco with a stone face.
"Wow, a mudblood, so offensive." She said in a monotone voice, rolling her eyes. "I'm so offended I could cry. Oh, whatever will I do?"
"She was just trying to help you, git." Blaise slapped the back of Draco's head.
"I don't need the mudblood's help!" He scoffed at them.
"Draco, the potion is supposed to turn purple, not red." Pansy rolled her eyes. "Just give me the wings if you're not going to listen."
"Ouch." Lia chuckled, only smiling when Draco shot her a glare.
✴✴✴
"I am so glad you're not into Draco anymore." Lia rolled her eyes as she and Pansy sat next to the black lake, away from everyone at school. "He's such an arse!"
"He's much nicer when you get to know him." Pansy defended with a small laugh. "But he is an arse."
"Yeah yeah, I know how you Slytherins are." Lia rolled her eyes. "But I still would love to hex his arse into oblivion for how he treated you."
"Good thing I had an amazing best friend to snap me out of it." Pansy laughed and nudged her with her elbow.
"Damn right." Lia grinned.
"Hello, ladies." Blaise greeted the two with a smile before he sat down with them. "How's everything going?"
"Well, Lia is still in the threatening stage, so I'd say well." Pansy said.
"Oh, Malfoy's close to crossing the line, is he?" Blaise looked over at the Hufflepuff who gave him a look.
"Just make sure he doesn't fly too close next to me tomorrow." Lia smiled innocently before she pulled out her phone. "Now get here, you two! I want to send my mom some pictures of us!"
"I still can't believe muggles are more advanced than us!" Pansy said.
"Only in some ways, magic is still amazing." Lia shrugged. "Learning how to merge them, however, is perfection."
"You really should show off your trinkets more, maybe we can finally get wizards into the same modern age as muggles."
"I will, once we graduate." Lia grinned. "I still have to tweak some of them to make sure they completely work. I've been working on creating some new spells to help, actually!"
"Oooh, show us!!" Blaise exclaimed.
"Okay, so these are mp3 players." Lia pulled out two small devices. "This was all I could afford, so...anyways, they're for music. I already added a bunch that I think you'd like."
"Music from that little thing?" Blaise tilted his head and Lia nodded.
"You'll need these to listen to them," she then pulled out two pairs of earphones from her bag, laughing at their terrified expressions. "They're completely safe, I promise. Now, if you want to listen to the music out loud, I came up with this spell..."
✴✴✴
It had been a while since Hufflepuff got to play against Slytherin. The entire school was split, though the majority supported the badgers. Under her Slytherin jumper's long sleeve, Pansy wore a yellow bracelet that Lia had given her. Lia was a chaser on the Hufflepuff quidditch team. Though she hoped her team would win, she couldn't help but wear her matching green bracelet under her uniform's sleeve, silently supporting her friend Blaise, who would be playing against her in a few moments. The two teams were still getting ready for their match. Lia, who had finished early, went off to find Blaise. Luckily, it didn't take long to find him. Making sure no one was around them, she ran and jumped on his back, her giggle making him relax as he realized who it was. He put her down gently before turning to look at her with a grin.
"There's my favorite Hufflepuff!" He pinched her cheek, his grin widening when she swatted his hand away with a laugh. "Where's my good luck hug?"
"I'm not sure if I should give you one," Lia teased. "I'd still like to win."
"But you need my good luck hug too." Blaise raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Fair enough." Lia rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around her friend, who was getting much taller than her. Blaise hugged her back tightly.
"Tell Marcus if he does anything I'll break his nose." Lia said casually before she pulled away.
"I would actually love to see you beat him up."
Unbeknownst to the two, a certain blonde was watching their exchange silently. He was confused as to why his heart felt so heavy, longing for a good luck hug of his own.
✴✴✴
Cedric often wondered if Lia was a seer, since she could almost always predict what would happen. She had expressed her annoyance about Marcus Flint's strategies many times, and many times he had to hold her back from breaking his nose. However, this time, Cedric was too injured to be able to do so. As soon as the game ended with Malfoy catching the snitch, due to Marcus having sent a nasty bludger towards Cedric, making him fall off his broom and dislocate his shoulder, the Hufflepuff team sped towards their captain to make sure he was alright. Thanks to Zacharias and Aliyeh, Hufflepuff had won the match with 230 - 210.
"I'm fine, guys." Cedric reassured. "We won the game!! We have to celebrate- Lia, no, Lia wait don't-"
His words fell on empty ears as he helplessly watched Lia storm over to the Slytherin team, who also watched her approach them. Blaise's eyes widened as he shook his head at her warningly. Marcus was standing in the front with a scowl on his face, his mouth opening to insult her, but before he could utter a sound, Lia's fist collided with his nose and a loud crack was heard as the captain fell to the ground, clutching his nose that was now gushing out blood.
"You stale ham sandwich!" She scowled at him. "That is not how you play quidditch you foul son of a-"
"Detention, Miss Starling." Snape said in a monotone voice, glaring at her to back away.
Draco watched her leave, grumbling to herself about no one hurting her friends and getting away with it. He glanced at Blaise, noting the smirk that played at his lips, and a sliver of yellow around his wrist caught his eye. He frowned and looked back at the Hufflepuff, seeing them celebrate with wide grins and bright eyes.
He couldn't understand why his heart skipped a beat when Lia's eyes met his for a split second.
✴✴✴
Aliyeh was walking downhill towards Hagrid's hut, knowing what was about to happen to Buckbeak. She had helped the golden trio try to get the beautiful creature out of trouble, but Malfoy's father was a straight up soulless arse. Lia grumbled all the way to the hut, her demeanor only worsening when she saw Draco and his minions standing in front of Hermione, Harry and Ron. However, seeing Hermione hold her wand to his throat made Lia smile as she trudged down towards them. It was then that Hermione punched Malfoy in the face, and a crack echoed into the silence. As he was running away with his goons, Lia placed her leg in his way, making him fall face first into the snow.
"YOU'RE LUCKY IT WASN'T ME WHO PUNCHED YOU, YOU LITTLE COWARD-"
"Lia! Calm down!" Hermione chuckled. "Had you punched him, you'd be the next Buckbeak."
"Yeah well, at least he'd go down with me. The Malfoy lineage would have ended."
"And you would have been sent to Azkaban!"
"Or worse..." Lia shivered. "Expelled!"
Hermione rolled her eyes with a smile and Lia grinned at her.
"I'm serious! I'd rather die than get expelled!" Lia exclaimed.
"It's always the muggleborns.." Ron said with his jaw agape. "You need to sort out your priorities!"
"Ron, my friend, imagine finding out magic is real and then having it taken away from you. Not fun, is it?"
"They have a point, mate." Harry agreed. "Now come on, we should get to Hagrid before it's too late."
They all nodded and walked down the hill, but Lia had stopped momentarily upon seeing a silver ring on the ground where Draco had fallen. She quickly picked it up and put it in her pocket, planning to give it to Pansy or Blaise to return it. A quick movement in the corner of her eyes made her do a double take, but no one was there. Shaking her head, she followed her three friends to Hagrid's hut.
✴✴✴
Finally getting away from everyone, Draco made his way to the astronomy tower. Whenever it got too much to handle, he could find comfort within the stars and moonlight. As he made his way up the stairs, his ears picked up on soft music. When he reached the final step, he could see a dark haired girl sitting all alone on the ground. She had her wand out, swirling it to move the twinkling stars around her to the rhythm of the music. The air felt heavy, and Draco wanted to leave unnoticed, not having energy to pick a fight he didn't need. Before he could take a step back, the girl turned her head to look at him. Draco's breath hitched in his throat, suddenly caught off guard as he looked at the way the moon and her magic illuminated her features. The light reflected off of her tear stained cheeks. She did not move nor straighten up when their eyes met, and Draco found himself mesmerized by the moment. True to her nature, she offered him a small smile and turned to look back at the sky. Draco knew he should have left, but his feet remained still. Though his heart was beating fast, he spoke up.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. He did not mean for it to sound so mean.
"It's a comforting place." She said, not glancing back at him. "You don't have to leave."
Silently, Draco walked closer to her, still admiring her magic. He looked around the room for a radio or a music player, but found nothing. Furrowing his eyebrows, he looked at Lia, who had moved to make space for him to sit too.
"Where is the music coming from?" He asked, slowly sitting down next to her, making sure there was enough space between them. One of the stars nudged his cheek and he felt it grow warm. Without saying anything, Lia pulled out her phone from her pocket. Draco looked at it quizzically, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Is that a muggle feletone?"
Lia let out a laugh and wiped away her tears. "Telephone." She corrected him. "Yes and no, this is an advanced version of it; it's a smartphone."
Draco's eyes widened when she tapped on it and another song blared out, startling him. She continued to show him more of what it could do and Draco listened intently to her, admiring the muggle device.
While showing him the camera, she accidentally tapped on a video of her, Pansy and Blaise laughing and having fun earlier in the day. She quickly closed it and felt her stomach twist; she knew Pansy and Blaise would get in trouble if more Slytherins knew about their friendship. Draco frowned; he'd never seen Pansy and Blaise so happy around him. He looked back at Lia, noting her red nose.
"Why are you so nice to us?" He asked. "Why are you nice to me?"
"You're human, aren't you?" She replied. "Everyone deserves kindness."
Draco looked at the floor before gazing at the stars, taking in the comfort it brought him. The breeze blew his hair into his face, tickling him.
"So...Why were you crying?" He asked awkwardly, avoiding her gaze as he asked.
"Buckbeak..." she trailed off. Draco's heart tightened, it was because of him that she was here all alone, crying.
"I...I didn't want any of this to happen." He admit. "My father, he...he just wanted to set an example."
"Why are you here, Draco?" She asked, changing the topic. Draco couldn't help but love the way his name rolled off her tongue, she had a slight accent that he could not place. He wondered why she called him by his first name, when almost everyone opted to use his last name.
"Same reason, I guess." He sighed. They sat in silence for a while, the soft music playing in the background at a low volume. "You make them happy."
"Hmm?" Lia turned to look at him.
"Blaise and Pansy." He explained. "They're happiest when they're with you."
"Oh." Lia blushed and smiled to herself, looking away from him. "They're great friends."
"We're not that close." Draco admit. "They're quite distant from Slytherins."
"They care about you a lot, you know?" She told him. "They don't want to be like their families, maybe that's why they're distancing themselves. If you would just...stop being a total arse for a few minutes, you could get closer to them."
"You really think so?" He asked, playing with his rings. Lia nodded and suddenly remembered the item in her pocket. She pulled out his silver ring and held it up for him.
"You dropped this earlier." Draco hesitantly took it in his hands and put it back on. "I'm sorry I tripped you, but you kinda deserved it."
"Like Flint deserved a broken nose?" Malfoy smirked when she let out a loud huff.
"He's lucky Snape was there." She grumbled. "I know not all Slytherins are bad, but he is."
"He's a stale ham sandwich, is he?" Draco chuckled, not realizing how his walls were melting away. Lia blushed and hid her smile.
"If you ever had a stale sandwich, you'd agree." She laughed.
Draco finally felt at ease.
"Congratulations on the win, Starling." He said.
"Thank you, Draco."
The two continued to admire the night sky in comfortable silence, but Draco's mind was a complete mess. He was supposed to hate her, but how could he hate someone who allowed him to take a deep breath and be at peace for once?
'These damn Badgers..'
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